An assault by Brendon McCullum puts England's World Cup survival chances in the balance as England lose in 12.2 overs

England suffered a humiliating defeat to New Zealand to put their World Cup future in doubt. Following a convincing defeat against Australia in their opening match, England succumbed lamely to a blistering assault by a New Zealand team determined to put their stamp on the tournament.

After winning the toss and electing to bat, England were bowled out for a measly 123 with Tim Southee becoming only the fourth player to achieve 7 wickets in a World Cup match and finishing with figures of 7-33. It was however the batting reply by New Zealand that was the most brutal, led by an astonishing 18 ball 50 by Brendon McCullum, the fastest half century in World Cup history and his 77 off 25 balls gave him a world record strike rate of 308. New Zealand raced to their target in 12.2 overs to record the joint quickest run chase against England, which has gone a long way towards securing New Zealand's passage into the quarter-finals, on a day that Eoin Morgan's side would like to forget.

Former England batsmen Geoff Boycott told the BBC's Test Match Special that England think that "they are better than they are" and singled out captain Eoin Morgan for particular criticism. Despite a personal loss of form that had seen him score only 2 runs in his 4 previous ODIs and a stuttering 17 in this match, Morgan refuses to press the panic button yet.

England are not the only team struggling during this World Cup. After being set 311 to win by West Indies, Pakistan also slumped to their second successive defeat by making the worst ever start to a World Cup match. They slumped to a record 1-4, beating the previous record held by Canada of 4-4, before recovering to 160 all out and losing by 150 runs. Both teams sit bottom of their pools after two matches and need to record victories in their next matches to stand a chance of qualifying for the next stage. Pakistan's next match is against Zimbabwe while England face the Auld Enemy, Scotland, on Sunday. Both of the so-called minnows will be scenting their chances of a major upset and who would bet against Scotland emulating Ireland's famous victory over England in the 2011 World Cup. Morgan and his team will need to start performing otherwise they will be facing an early exit.

I live in Shetland and have been writing freelance for the last 3 years. I have written on a variety of subjects from nature and wildlife features to tourism related articles, culture and events, and local pieces of interest.

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